PANTO fans are snapping up tickets for stage legend Berwick Kaler’s 40th York Theatre Royal Christmas show.
The icy and snowy weather failed to deter the faithful when tickets went on sale at the theatre for The Grand Old Dame of York with 7,729 tickets bought on March 1 – 1,513 more than first day sales for Jack and the Beanstalk in 2017.
A week later, ticket sales remained ahead of last year with more than 11,000 tickets bought for a show that does not open until December.
Panto fans began queueing the afternoon before tickets went on sale and were accommodated overnight in the adjoining De Grey Rooms.
The next morning the crowd, which had grown to more than 100 people, was brought in from the cold to wait to buy tickets inside, with the queue snaking around the theatre foyer well into the afternoon as more and more arrived.
Long-serving dame Berwick was there to greet the first in the queue Sharon Smith, from Middleton on the Wolds, who bought 49 tickets so four generations of her family could see the show together. Fellow panto star Martin Barrass was on hand to talk to ticket buyers.
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